Jamberoo Superoos make it three in a row

JAMBEROO Superoos have made it three wins on the trot following a heart-stopping 20-10 win over Berry Magpies at Kevin Walsh Oval on Saturday.

In a game dominated by some outstanding defence from both teams, both sides were without key players Mark Asquith and Luke Gilmore (Jamberoo) and Blaine Rosz (Berry), the game was intense and still up for grabs until the final two minutes.

Jamberoo looked to be unlucky early when Matt Coelho crashed over out wide, only to see the tough judge rule him held up.

But Berry were quick to reply when fullback Josh Coulter out wide in the sixth minute to take a 4-nil lead.

The Superoos hit back seven minutes later when the Maslanka brothers combined on the right side for winger Michal to stroll over off second-rower Simon’s strong burst.

Despite the best efforts of both teams, including a couple of strong breaks by Berry coach Nathan Benney, the scores remained locked at 4-all at the half-time break.

It was obvious that the game was going to go right down to the wire as both sides battled for the upper hand and the visitors took the lead in the 55th minute when classy hooker Blake Dryden was on hand to tidy up a rebounding ball and with Coulter converting, Berry had a 10-4 lead.

However as so often happens after a taking vital advantage, the Magpies handed Jamberoo back possession from the kick-off and the home side were rewarded minutes later when a delicate grubber-kick by Coelho allowed winger Ben Barnard to win the race to the ball in-goal.

The captain-coach then added to his good work with the boot with a sideline conversion to lock the scores up at 10-all.

This seemed to lift the home side and it was Coelho again in the action seven minutes before full-time when he chimed into the backline and powered his way over out wide, much to the delight of the large crowd of Jamberoo supporters on the southern hill.

He was unable to give his side a six-point buffer as his kick swung wide.

However the best was yet to come for the home side and it came just two minutes from full-time from one of their youngest stars.

Jamberoo swung the ball wide on halfway and centre Josh Champion put Ben Barnard away down the left flank and the speedster burst into open spaces and with space to manoeuvre, gave Coulter no hope with a left-foot step to dive over near the posts.

Coelho’s conversion wrapped up a well deserved, but hard fought win.

The Superoos now face a tough three weeks with Warilla at home next week before taking on Kiama and Shellharbour away, while the Magpies are clearly a team in rebuilding faze and with a host of young stars and a strong under-18s coming through will undoubtedly be a team of the future.

Simon Maslanka, Coelho, Jono Dallas, Barnard and Keiran Kellaway were probably best for the Superoos, while Benney, Rory McCall, Josh Ingold and Dryden had big games for the Magpies.